If you’ve often wondered where I stand on the issues or how things are progressing at the State Capitol, you’ve come to the right place.

A number of good provisions were signed into law during the 2015 session, but plenty of work also remains for 2016.

Despite the governor's office and the Senate being controlled by Democrats, we were able to craft a two-year budget that prioritized smarter spending – resulting in one of the lowest spending increases in half a century. Under this plan, $400 million in new money was dedicated to Minnesota's schools and a $138 million funding infusion is on its way to our nursing homes.

As chairman of the Minnesota House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Finance Committee, I was pleased to craft the law that allocated more money for cops, courts, public defenders, and probation officers last session. Two of my public safety policy provisions also became law. The first establishes a "Blue Alert" system in Minnesota, allowing broadcasters to immediately alert the public that a suspect accused of critically injuring or killing a police officer is at large. We were also able to increase the penalties on those patients who assault workers at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

As for long term funding for transportation and tax relief for hardworking Minnesotans, those were lost in 2015 due to the liberals insisting that we pass a tax increase that would raise the cost of gasoline by a minimum of 16-cents per gallon. That said, our road and bridge plan that would provide $7 billion over the next decade without raising taxes and our proposal that would provide $2 billion in tax relief to hardworking Minnesotans, veterans, senior citizens, and college students remain on the table and await action in the coming months.

Also worth noting: roughly $1 billion remains unspent from last session's budget surplus, meaning it will also need to be allocated before we adjourn.

It’s an honor to serve as your state representative, and I look forward to serving you in 2016.

Rep. Tony Cornish

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